Microsoft is working hard to make on-the-fly translation feasible for everyone. The Skype Translator preview is currently available for download, and offers Windows users the ability to voice chat with each other using two different languages.

With Siri and CarPlay being sold as high-profile features of Apple’s flagship product, it’s no surprise that Cupertino is doubling down on me research and development. Over the last few months, Apple has quietly hired multiple notable audio experts, and that leads me to believe that we’re in for some serious audio processing improvements in the next couple of years. Is an offline version of Siri in the works, or is Apple working on something even bigger?

When Apple first debuted Siri, the tech world was taken aback — we might finally get a chance to live in a science fiction future where little pocket robots do our bidding when we yell at them. In practice, Siri has been a mixed bag of results. Intel is working on its own version of Siri, but is avoiding using the cloud because that will make the product much better.

Smartphones are amazing. They tell us where we’re going, let us know if it’s going to rain, and even act like personal assistants. Now, a new research project out of the University of Rochester aims to make your phone capable of sensing your emotions just from measuring how you’re speaking — not based on what you’re saying.